By Thompson ABISOLA
Prof. Steve Nwokeocha, Department of Sociology, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai, Niger, has called on the Federal and State Governments to urgently address the issues of Almajiri and out-of-school children.
Nwokeocha, who is also an Executive Director at Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities with the African Union, Addis Ababa, made the call in Abuja, on Sunday.
He spoke on the sideline of the 2018 graduation and prize giving day of J-C Best Schools International, Abuja, affiliated with the University of Cambridge.
The professor said it was worrisome that the Almajiri and out-of-school children’s situation had adversely affected efforts to meet the sustainable development goals on inclusive education for all.
According to the don, Nigeria has the most worrisome education system, with about 10.5 million out of school children, and I disagree with such number.
“There will be no less than 12 million out-of-school children and 9 million are the alimajiris, they constitute the largest number of the country’s out-of-school children. To me that’s the high point of what we are not doing very well on education,” he said.
Nwokeocha urged the Federal Government, Governors and State’s Commissioners for Education to do something collectively and nothing more.
He said some state governors have tried as individuals and governments but the problems are still overwhelming.
“We need collective and constructive action to deal with the alimajiris system; they have to be mainstreamed into the formal educational system,” he stressed.
He explained that investments in education in Nigeria are still low, despite the significant impact of both national and international intervention.
He commended the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for their effort in arresting the poor standard of education, especially at the basic education level in Nigeria.
The don noted that suggestion had been made in the past, and even now, to the affected states that the alimajiris system is something that should not be neglected by the government.
“The last administration, even though much credit was not giving to it, built over a hundred and something schools to reform the alimajiris systems so that they will be mainstreamed.
“But, unfortunately those schools are now abandoned. There should be continuity by this present administration in making sure the alimajiris gets quality education,” he said..
Speaking on private and public school in Nigeria Nwokeocha described private and religious institutions as an intervention to the Nigeria system of education.
“I wonder what our educational system would have been without the intervention of the private and religious institutions.
“We have much more people looking for admission into the universities than what the public universities could afford to give admission.
“The same thing goes to the Primary and Secondary Schools, so private and religious institutions are doing wonderfully well in promoting our educational system in the nation.
“The rich people have their children in private institutions than the public schools so they won’t know the damage done to our public schools.
“Is our standards of education fallen? I won’t make this a blanket statement. For some individuals, some schools and context, the standard is raising, and for some individuals the standard has fallen.
“This is not universal but, I know that we need to do more. There’s something I have always said, we don’t need to deliberately condemn our system of education because, we have done a lot.
“People, who finished their secondary school education and go aboard have first class from the best universities around the world, if our secondary education system was a write off then, they couldn’t have achieved those things,” he said.
He said Nigeria system of education should be giving credits for doing well in some schools, some individuals and some aspects.
He said teaching holds the key to quality, saying that where there were over 300 students in a classroom with only few or one teacher the standard would be faced with problems.
Nwokeocha, however, said for education to thrive in Nigeria teachers should be treated better.
He said the country must give good budgetary allocation and funding to education, which must go significantly to teacher education and preparing teachers and the making their conditions better.
Nwokeocha stressed the need for more collaboration to deal with the challenges facing the nation’s educational system.
It would be recalled that best schools international was confirmed the best school in the whole of northern Nigeria in the just concluded UTME 2018 organised by Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The first student, Obodo Joseph Chijioke, scored a total of 342 out of 400, which made him the best in 2018 Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The second student, Adejo Uhiene scored a total of 303, while the third student, Adajah Fadil Isah scored 300 and she is still in SS2.
